Andy Priaulx, of Great Britain, was hailed yesterday as the most successful touring car driver in history after he secured his third consecutive FIA World Championship title in a thrilling final race of the year in Macau.

Priaulx, 33, driving for BMW Team UK, went into the last two races on the twisting streets of the former Portuguese colony as joint-championship leader with Yvan Muller, the French SEAT driver.

The man from Guernsey had it all to do after qualifying in only twelfth position on Saturday, but setbacks for his main rivals in the first race and a flawless performance from pole in the second meant that Priaulx secured the title.

Priaulx finished the season with 92 points, relegating Muller and James Thompson, the British Alfa Romeo driver, to second and third places respectively. BMW celebrated a successful defence of their manufacturers’ title, finishing six points ahead of SEAT.

“I never give up, but I knew it needed something special to win this title for the third time,” an emotional Priaulx said. “I have now been in a championship-winning position in the final race of the season for five years in a row. We all know you need a bit of luck to win a championship, but also you have to be there to take the luck and today was my lucky day.”

Priaulx paid tribute to his team and supporters. “I had some amazing people around me giving me motivation,” he said. “The car was reliable, the team was reliable and that is also an important key to winning the championship.”

The newly crowned triple champion, who was last year dubbed “Britain’s Schumacher”, was hailed by Mario Theissen, the director of motor sport for BMW, as the most successful touring car driver in history. “To win such a close championship three times in a row is an outstanding performance,” Theissen said. “If you include the European Championship title from 2004, Andy has now won the highest FIA Touring Car Championship four times in succession. This underlines his position as the most successful touring car driver of all time.”

After hitting the barriers during qualifying, Priaulx needed some good fortune and he got it in the first race when Muller, who was leading, suffered a fuel pump failure in the closing stages that put him out of the first and second races.

Then Augusto Farfus, Priaulx’s fellow BMW driver and championship contender, who was in second place, hit the barriers after a collision with the SEAT driven by Gabriele Tarquini. Priaulx, who had managed to pick up only one place until the last two laps, was thus able to secure eighth, putting him on pole for the final heat. From there, he made no mistake, leading the second race for the entire nine laps to the flag.

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